Take Me Back to the Start
by MochiUs
Summary: Kagami has been reliving the same day over and over again, except he noticed there was always one difference in every loop.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hello! This is another submission for the team battle I'm in. The title is inspired by a Coldplay song, The Scientist. Though this fic is not a break up fic like the song implied, I believe it still fits. Hopefully I can finish this before the end of this month. Enjoy!**

* * *

Although there is a fine line between stupidity and obliviousness, Kagami somehow managed to accomplish both. From now on, he will no longer argue over his nickname because he truly feels like a Bakagami.

"So…" Kuroko paused and took a sip from his vanilla milkshake. "You are trying to tell me that you have been reliving the same day for the past six days."

That sentence by itself sounded like a conundrum. Nevertheless, Kagami nodded.

Kuroko gave him an uncomfortable stare and then said, "And you haven't noticed because…?"

He trailed off and waited for his friend to provide him the answer. The redhead shifted his eyes and twiddled his fingers.

"Well, uh…" He coughed awkwardly and continued, "My mind was too preoccupied with Aomine. I wasn't very observant per se, but for some odd reason, he acts differently in every loop."

Kuroko, who was sucking the last dregs of his drink, smiled. He leaned over and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Kagami-kun," he started. "Although I am impressed by your creativity this time, you didn't have to fabricate this long, complicated story to tell me you're having mixed feelings for Aomine-kun."

"What?" Kagami hissed. "Why the hell would I lie about something like this?!"

He immediately stood up and clenched his fists. "I have proof! Once the bell rings and we enter our next class, the teacher is going to surprise us with a pop quiz about yesterday's lecture and then-"

"Kagami-kun," Kuroko interrupted and slowly stood up with him. He warily approached him with concerned eyes. Next, he pressed his palm again his forehead to check his temperature. His eyebrows furrowed deeper. "You don't have a fever," he stated.

"Of course not!" Kagami shouted and swatted away Kuroko's hand from his bangs. He groaned as his own hand slid down from his face. "You know what? This is not going to work."

He glared at his most trusted friend.

"You already think I'm crazy."

He gathered his trash and belongings with a defeated slouch. "Hurry up and pick up your bags," he growled. "Class is gonna start."

Just like he predicted, the bell rang.

Kagami descended the stairs and disappeared among the hordes of students rushing to their classes. Once he sat in his assigned seat, he stared out of the window, wondering when this maddening loop will end.

The teacher entered the class and greeted, "Good afternoon everyone."

The rest of the students returned her greeting, but the peaceful mood soured as the teacher proceeded to hand out quizzes to each row. As expected, the students complained and stressed over the contents of the surprise test. Uncharacteristic of the class idiot, Kagami finished the quiz in a flash and in a record time of less than five minutes. Furthermore, he passed it with flying colors, but of course he would. After all, he finished the same one in sex consecutive loops.

* * *

Even though Kagami has been reliving the same day, there was one loophole, and somehow, Aomine managed to slip through the seams. Although he was reliving the same day, his relationship with Aomine was definitely different in every repeat.

Right on schedule, Aomine was at their usual meeting spot with a basketball perched on his hip. He leaned on the chain-linked fence but straightened out once he saw Kagami's recognizable blood red hair, and Kagami in turn observed the blue-haired man carefully, gauging all the small intricacies that clue him about today's Aomine.

There was a determined gleam in his eye. After all, yesterday was the last straw.

The initial days of this confounding loop was nothing to sneeze at. Sure, there were subtle touches, but Kagami innocently assumed Aomine was going through a rough week and felt touch-starved. This seemed reasonable at the moment since Kagami would often catch the ace bump fists with Kuroko. He was definitely comfortable with wrapping his arm around his shoulders despite the fact that they were strangers at the time.

Weirdly enough, Kagami secretly enjoyed these touches. A bump to his fist. A hug around his shoulders. A pat on his head. He thought of them as a progression to their relationship and deepened their connection as good friends. Certainly, these forms of physical contact were harmless and safe for two bros who mutually agreed that ball is life, now and forever. Everything was fine, Kagami thought. Everything was swell.

Then yesterday happened, or whatever one would call the previous repeated day, and after that, everything was not fine. Instead, everything rocked his world.

Color him surprised, but Kagami's troubles began with a kiss. Kagami's memories are fuzzy since he tried to hide the memory into the dark recesses of his mind, but the kiss was unexpected and uncalled for. One moment, he was arguing with Aomine over the last match between the Warriors and the Cavaliers. Next thing he knew, Aomine grabbed the front of his tank top and pushed his tongue into his mouth.

Like any sane man who suddenly got kissed out of the goddamn blue without incentive, he shoved Aomine as hard as he could.

"What the fuck?!" Kagami screamed and furiously rubbed his lips with the back of his hand. "What was that for?"

As if Aomine had the right to accuse him, he dirtily pointed a finger at his face. "Fuck you!" he shouted right back. "You don't have the right to give me a hissy fit over this when you gave me crap over the lack of PDA ever since we started dating!"

The situation worsened when the pink on Aomine's cheeks turned into a darker shade and shyly glanced at him as if they were lovers. He gripped the hairs of his head and let out an infuriated groan.

"I'm trying, okay?"

If he kept on messing with his hair, he would end up looking like a fluffy Pomeranian, Kagami noted amusingly.

"I like you, and you like me. Fuck," Aomine turned away as if spouting his feelings physically pained him. "I know you want me to kiss you more often, but it's so damn hard and people are so judgmental."

Even though he was intently listening to Aomine's rant, none of the words processed during translation.

"What?" he asked dumbfoundedly.

Aomine scowled at the dull response and stepped into Kagami's personal space once more. His stance looked like a challenge.

He leaned closer until Kagami could feel puffs of air fan his face. His eyes were electric blue and barely contained the raw emotion seeping through his steadfast gaze.

He then lifted his chin and told him in a quieter, tantalizing voice, "Just wait for me to get over my embarrassment. I'll make sure to kiss you so well that you'll be seeing stars."

Kagami could practically feel Aomine's smirk as he gave him a small peck at the base of his neck. Even though a fresh pink hue stained his cheeks, Aomine somehow managed to look confident and powerful as he stepped back and relished Kagami's reaction. The redhead immediately tensed and slapped both hands to his neck. Gooseflesh popped up all over his arms.

"Shit," Kagami breathed out.

Shit indeed.

* * *

Eventually, after the tenth loop, Kagami gave up in figuring out the logistics behind this phenomenon.

Over time, Kagami began to lost track of time and the never-ending stream of loops. Rather than dwelling upon the mundane and boring snippets, he looked forward to his ever-changing encounters with Aomine instead. He anticipated each rendezvous with a quiver in his chest. After all, each day possessed a different side of Aomine, and as a result, he savored their meetings with a newfound appreciation.

On some days, they were boyfriends. On other days, they were enemies. However, on his favorite days, they were good friends, and on those days, Kagami forwent school and invited Aomine to play hooky with him. To outsiders, two boys were wasting their day by playing basketball all day long, but to them, they were living life to its fullest. Best of all, there were no repercussions since Kagami would simply relive the same day all over again.

* * *

"What do you like about me?"

Kagami surmised that today they were in an established, serious relationship. He had this speculation ever since he woke up to sickeningly sweet, sappy text messages from the blue-haired man. Begrudgingly, Kagami added, the man's kissing skills improved immensely to the point he took Kagami's breath away. One can only hope to achieve that accomplishment unless he practiced kissing his lips religiously.

Even though Kagami never would have imagined himself to be by Aomine's side this intimately, he played along with this ruse until he could return back to his Aomine as eternal rivals.

Yet, this Aomine was a stranger, an unknown variable he couldn't solve. This man managed to creep into his bones, made him flushed until he was feverish and bothered. He would unabashedly look at Kagami with moony eyes and a drunken smile, as if he was the most precious person in his entire life.

Aomine was in the midst of wiping away the beads of sweat from his face. He was using the hem of his tank top because he forgot his wristband and was too lazy to fetch a towel to do the job. After he heard Kagami's question, he gave him a questioning look, but his expression changed to a smirk once he noticed Kagami unconsciously checking out his nicely toned abdomen.

"Like what you see, babe?"

Kagami jolted back and sputtered. He even wrinkled his nose to feign disgust.

"No," he interjected back.

Aomine laughed and sauntered over to his side.

"Today you seem different," he commented off-handedly. "You don't normally fish for compliments."

"I'm not," Kagami huffed.

Generally, he would have jumped into a fight with the blue-haired man until they decided to settle their argument through a one-on-one, but Kagami no longer has that luxury. Now he avoided confrontation like the plague and attempted to approach every Aomine with an open mind because he doesn't know about their current history. He has no clue about the fine details of their lives in each consecutive loop.

Aomine caught Kagami off-guard and held his head. He then stroked his brows with the pads of thumbs, leaving Kagami speechless and befuddled.

"Your passion," he said with a lilt in his voice.

Kagami pursed his lips. His response was too enigmatic to decipher.

"My passion?"

"You're the type of guy who puts in 100% of himself into everything you do."

When he said that, his expression turned soft and kind. Kagami widened his eyes. So this is what Aomine looks like when he's in love, he traitorously thought.

"Whether you played basketball, or cooked, or even hung out with me," he said as he slid one of his hands down Kagami's chest and grasped his hand, "I could never take my eyes of you because your passion was too strong and real for me to ignore."

For once in his predicament, Kagami's heart stuttered. His breath hitched. The feeling was like a log wedged into his throat. That can't be true, his mind supplied, because the passion Aomine exuded at this moment was too brilliant for him to see properly.

"Satisfied?" Aomine teased and intertwined their fingers.

"You said too much," Kagami grumbled, futilely willing his heart to calm down. "You're surprisingly a chatterbox."

"You know, this reminded me of the time I confessed to you, except," he chuckled at the memory, "There was less yelling, and you didn't punch me in the gut."

* * *

In retrospect, Aomine must have been a psychic of some sort or just plain intuitive because Kagami did not expect Aomine to brazenly confess his feelings for him on the day or whatever one would call the the subsequent loop.

He was stumped. After all, the routine had been set and determined. Like every morning, he would wake up to an unobtrusive text from Aomine with a fixed time and place. Afterwards, he would prepare a quick breakfast and pack lunch before jogging to school. He would sleep throughout his classes, attend practice, finish the quiz in record speed, and then hustle to the bus stop to meet Aomine at their usual spot for a good round of basketball. From there, life would either decide to give him a curveball or an easy pitch.

However, he did not predict the fastball thrown towards him right now.

"I like you!" Aomine shouted. "Go out with me!"

He then proceeded to throw the basketball at his face as if it was the embodiment of his feelings. In other words, he was his classic, overbearing self. A small part of himself missed the nicer version of Aomine, the one where he peppered him with kisses and spoiled him with lovey-dovey affections.

Kagami expertly caught the ball before it could smash against the cartilage of his nose and glared at the offender. Although he understood a smidgen of Aomine's feelings for him, he wondered why he himself would go through such lengths to hook up with such an insufferable bastard.

Honestly, he was content with retaining their friendship. Really, he could have hand-picked somebody else instead of this barefaced idiot. Besides, Aomine wasn't even his ideal type. Rather, he preferred an elegant person with a pleasant aura, not some boob-obsessed fanatic who happened to love basketball just like him.

Yet, despite these claims, despite these reasons, Aomine was right about one thing: he never half-assed anything.

Thus, he dropped the ball he was holding and briskly walked to Aomine's front with determination in his wake. He was a man who refused to dip his toe into shallow waters; he was a man who would riskily form a cannonball and dive into the deep ends.

His decision was settled. His heart was resolute.

He gripped Aomine's shoulders tightly and closed in onto his face.

"Sure," he replied with fire in his eyes, and then he took what he supposed was Aomine's first kiss.


	2. Chapter 2

Kagami knew something was amiss.

This morning he woke up with a crick in his neck, and though it was harmless and doesn't necessarily equate to disaster, his instincts were practically screaming red flags throughout the day.

There was a sense of wrongness that permeated the air, a feeling Kagami couldn't pinpoint. He withdrew his phone from his pocket and stared at Aomine's customary morning text on the screen. The words were jilted, formal. The text lacked the typical insults and slang he usually weaved into his invitation.

He continued to stare at the bright screen a little longer, but he was jerked out of his trance when a hand tapped his shoulder.

"Kagami-kun."

The redhead choked on his saliva and grabbed his left pectoral.

"God dammit, Kuroko!"

He whirled around and spluttered, "The heck is wrong with you?! You almost gave me a heart attack!"

The phantom man shyly smiled. "I apologize, Kagami-kun." He patted his back soothingly. "I had no intention to scare you. I promise it was a force of habit."

Again, Kagami was randomly hit with a pang of unease and furrowed his brows in confusion. He rolled his shoulders and allowed the tension to bleed away. His bad morning was ruining his groove, he supposed. It would be over his dead body before he would let something as silly as a crick in his neck to interfere his time with Aomine.

Kuroko had already packed his belongings and waited for his ace to clear up his desk.

"You don't have to wait for me," Kagami signaled him as he was zipping his bag, "I'll be meeting Aomine after this."

The shorter male tipped his head to the side and perused him carefully.

"Of course I know that Kagami-kun," he replied with his breezy voice, "After all, I'm coming along."

Kagami stilled.

"Oh," he croaked. "I forgot," he responded.

The sudden change of events was disorienting to say the least. After all, this was the first time Kuroko intruded their alone time. Alarms were ringing in his head, but Kagami chose to disregard them as he entered the usual meeting spot with Kuroko at his side. Kagami was about to shout out Aomine's name to grab his attention, but he stopped as he noticed the pink-haired woman standing next to him. Though he was too far to overhear their bickering, Momoi was putting her hands on her hips as she reprimanded Aomine and gave him an earful. This image reminded Kagami of a time when Aomine once mentioned how annoying her complaints were, but he knew the man was a softie. After all, he was still, albeit reluctantly, listening with attention.

An itch began to settle in Kagami's throat.

Kuroko made the first move as he greeted Momoi first. "Hello, Momoi-san." He then nodded in Aomine's direction. "Aomine-kun," he said last.

Momoi, who was as beautiful as cherry blossoms in full bloom, quickly hugged his small frame and giggled as Kuroko returned the sentiment.

Aomine grunted his discontent, but nevertheless, he also greeted his old friend. Kagami shortly waved at him, and even though Aomine nodded in acknowledgement, Kagami couldn't help but lower his hand with a strained smile.

Throughout these loops, Aomine always faced him head-on, enemy or not. However, he was invisible to this man as he looked past him, and that knowledge unnerved him.

"Alright!" Momoi clapped with a cheery grin. "Let's not waste any more time. After all, it's time to settle the score!"

Kagami bit his lower lip. He was clueless about the unnamed bet, but he winged it as he pretended to agree and entered into the court. The itch was almost unbearable at this point, but he had his priorities straight.

Nothing will stop him from having a good game with Aomine, he told himself. Nothing can ruin this moment.

However, all of those expectations were dashed once Momoi wrapped her lithe arms around Aomine's neck, and Kagami swore he heard the ear-splitting roar of crashing waves as the man leaned into her touch.

"A good luck kiss," she explained with white, pearly teeth gracing her immaculate smile. Then she pressed her supple, glossy lips against her boyfriend's lips.

Kagami didn't know if it was scientifically possible, but that kiss gave him vertigo. He felt uneven and unbalanced. The itch he had earlier erupted into a rash and infected his very being until it reached his inner core.

Then Kuroko broke into his thoughts. "What a good idea, Momoi-san."

Kagami was about to ask him the meaning behind those words, but his question was immediately answered as Kuroko tugged onto his collar and meshed their mouths together.

Kagami made a surprised noise as he was frozen into stone. He doesn't even remember how to breathe properly as Kuroko retracted his lips with a sly grin, but that can't be right. They can't be dating.

This is bullshit. This is wrong.

Kagami zoned out and clamped his hands over his mouth. Bile threatened to rise in his throat as he curled into himself.

As Kuroko followed suit and called out Kagami's name in concern, Aomine approached his hunched figure and touched his shoulder. His touch burned.

"Hey, he looks pale," he said. "Tetsu, stay here with him. I'll get some water while Satsuki calls for help."

As Aomine was getting farther and farther away, Kagami's gaze lingered onto him. He never intended to cause such unnecessary drama. The regret filled him as he steadied his breathing.

He wished this nightmarish day would end.

* * *

"Look at me," he commanded in a hoarse voice.

Aomine opened his eyes, his pupils blown and dilated. He tightened his grip on Kagami's thighs with hunger and lust. Kagami stared down into this beautiful man as his right hand clenched the strands beneath his fingers even harder. He licked his lips as he appreciated the blush on his lover's shoulders, the plumpness of his red swollen lips. Kagami made sure to dig his nails deep so crescent moons would cover his arms and back.

Never in a million years had Kagami expected to have his first time like this, but this is what they needed. This is what they want.

"Mine," he growled out and sunk himself down onto Aomine's cock. He shuddered at the intrusion, but he always knew Aomine would be bigger than just a couple of fingers.

This day Aomine is all his. This day Aomine's eyes are on him.

Aomine made a small sound at the sudden heat, but he embraced Kagami closer and captured his lips.

"Taiga," he groaned as he thrusted in tandem with Kagami's rhythm. It was music to his ears.

Kagami closed his eyes and pressed himself closer to him as the memories of the previous day dissolved into nothingness.

XXX

Kagami was mindlessly dribbling the ball on the pavement until Aomine returned from his break with an extra sports drink in his hand.

"You're in a good mood," he stated as he handed the redhead the drink.

"I am," he said and rolled the ball off to the side. He popped open the cap of the Pocari and downed a quarter of the drink in one gulp.

"Why?"

Kagami gave him a cursory glance and couldn't help but think how cute Aomine is with his pouty lips. A wave of contentment washed over him. If it wasn't for this crappy rendition of Groundhog Day, Kagami would have never met all of these variations of Aomine.

He discovered and studied the intricacies of the blue-haired man, fascinated with the tidbits of facts that littered throughout each loop. His innate fear of bees, his compulsive love for karaage, his secretive preference to spoon…

He is in a good mood for all of these reasons and many more, but of course he can't tell Aomine that. He'll freak out if he did.

"Well, of course it's because I'm playing basketball with you," he answered with an innocent tone.

Aomine narrowed his eyes, not fully believing him. "You're hiding something," he said.

"I'm not," Kagami retorted with underlying smugness.

He batted his lashes playfully. "What? Were you expecting me to say something else?"

"Huh?! What? No." Aomine exploded into a tomato and stumbled over his words. His strong reaction almost made Kagami assume he did expect a different confession. "As if!"

Kagami laughed and lightly bumped his shoulder in good jest, which Aomine retaliated by batting his hand away.

Deeming that he had enough fun for the day, Kagami explained, "I'm just messing with you, but honestly," he leaned closer and teasingly whispered in his ear, "I really do love your basketball."

* * *

This time they're enemies, and apparently Aomine hated his guts to a certain degree. He almost socked the living daylights out of him but missed by a fraction of a second as Kagami dodged his fist.

"Come back here you coward!" Aomine yelled at the top of his lungs as Kagami swerved back with a manic grin. Adrenaline pumped in his veins. His arms were ready for battle.

"Come and get me!" he shouted back without an inch of fear.

"Fuck you!" the other man spat back.

The words slipped before Kagami could process it in his brain. "Gladly," he breathed out and lunged.

* * *

Aomine slammed him into the wall without remorse.

"Fuck you," he sneered as he went down on his knees.

Overall, Kagami was at a loss for words.

One moment he was leisurely walking to the bus stop with Kuroko at his side while furtively asking questions to find out where he stood with Aomine today. The next moment Aomine stormed right into his face as if he appeared out of thin air, dragged him all the way to his apartment, unlocked the door with his hidden spare key, and locked him in place with his hands on his hips.

Kagami looked up at the ceiling to rack his brain for any logical explanation, but he got zilch.

"… Did I do something wrong?"

Then he hissed as Aomine harshly yanked his pant zipper.

"Shut up," he said with bared teeth. "You know what you did," he added angrily and tugged his pants down.

Kagami lowered his lidded eyes and quivered as the man fiercely mouthed his crotch. The image of this man kneeling down before him burned into his retinas.

"I hate you," said Aomine. Then he took him in his mouth.

Kagami seized and saw sparks of white. "I like you, too," he gasped.

* * *

Today was a bad day.

There was only radio silence on his end, so when he searched through his contact list to chat with Aomine, he dropped his phone once he reached the last name. He doesn't have Aomine's number.

He rushed to school like a madman afterwards, desperately looking for that familiar light blue hair. After traveling a couple flights of stairs, he found his target.

"Kuroko!"

His shout caught his attention, and his friend stopped to look over his shoulder.

"Good morning, Kagami-kun."

"Hi," he greeted as he nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I kind of lost Aomine's number, but I have to tell him something," he lied. "Can you tell me what it is?"

Instead of receiving the 9-digit number, Kagami was given an eerie, vacant stare.

"How..." Kuroko's voice trailed off. "How do you know him?" he whispered, horrified.

Kagami blanched as the weight of his words crashed onto him. He backed away, conflicted and confused, as his friend reached out to steady him. However, he dashed away, blatantly ignoring his friend's futile cries. He felt like he was suffocating from the impending truth, but he has to see it. He has to see it with his own eyes.

He timed his arrival at Touou Academy at the point where Aomine would leave school. This was all improvised, meaning that he came here without a plan or a strategy. Despite his poor planning, he has to be brave, he told himself. He braced himself as he waited near the gates, though he didn't have to wait for long once his ears picked up that familiar sultry voice.

"Get off my back, Satsuki. I can take care of myself. Now go."

Momoi looked at him as if she wanted to say more but fought against that urge.

Although it was wrong to eavesdrop into private conversations, this one seemed important.

"You'll come pick me up after basketball practice, right?"

"Of course," Aomine grumbled without an ounce of affection. "Now, shoo."

Kagami watched the two parted their separate ways and wondered what on earth happened between them for their relationship to become this sour.

"Maybe this was stupid," he muttered to himself. Honestly, he could have waited for the day to pan out and restart anew. Instead, he was an idiot and over exaggerated over the miniscule fact that he doesn't exist in Aomine's world.

"Move out of the way."

Well, Kagami sweatdropped, too late to back out now. He raised his head in defiance and kept his feet on the ground. Even though he wanted the blue-haired man to notice him, reality said otherwise. Aomine whisked by him without a second glance.

However, for one fleeting moment, their eyes met, and that short-lived moment filled Kagami with dread. His eyes were icy and cold as if daggers pierced through his skin. His aura was different than the one he possessed before the Interhigh match. While his previous aura contained a beast raging to unleash its full power, this aura was more solemn and morose. His scent was sad and depressing. Rather, it belonged to a broken man.

Kagami was debilitated as he finally realized what happened to Aomine in this loop, and it was the cruelest sight he had to see.

He turned around before Aomine could disappear from his view. He had to say something, anything, but the words were on the tip of his tongue. Tears had built up at the corner of his eyes as the frustration crippled him. In the end, he couldn't say anything as Aomine slipped through the cracks.

* * *

A kiss pressed against his forehead, and as repayment, Kagami snuggled closer to Aomine's broad chest.

There have been occasions when the redhead would try to identify the exact hour when the day would begin again, but every time he had done so, he would be struck by a sudden sleepy spell.

Now, he latched onto these precious moments, even more frantically ever since he witnessed an Aomine who could never play basketball again.

He savored onto the imprints and bruises Aomine marked on his body. Even though they will disappear the next day, Kagami will sear the memory into his mind. Ironically, the memories of _his_ Aomine are starting to fade at the same time. Frighteningly, he doesn't mind, and he doesn't know how he'll react once he can move on to the next day. However, these worries are for the future. Today, he is treasuring this moment where Aomine and he are sleeping on the same bed.

His lover made an amused noise as his fingers caressed his crimson locks. "I love you," he whispered quietly.

 _I love you, too_ , Kagami thought as he returned to his slumber.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hypothetically, if you were reliving the same day over and over again, but your relationship with me was always different, what would you do?"

Aomine looked at him as if he lost his marbles, and that would be a legitimate reaction since the pair was now cooling down from their strenuous workout. After all, it was a vague, loaded question.

Kagami peacefully watched the sunset and waited for the jeers, the incoming snide remarks if he was inebriated or not. However, the shaming never came, and when the power forward turned his head, he found Aomine lost in thought.

"What do you mean by different relationships?" he asked for clarification.

Kagami blinked rapidly, stunned.

"W-well…" he mentally cursed himself as his voice wavered. "For example, today we're a couple, but tomorrow I hated you as if we were never friends in the first place." He fidgeted with his hands as he tried to provide up a better explanation. "By the end of today, you would go back to the beginning of the day," he said.

"That's fucking boring," Aomine drawled.

Kagami nodded in agreement. He has no idea.

"Every day would be the same," he continued, "But every time you meet me, it would be like meeting a whole different person."

A few days ago, or more correctly, a few loops ago, he pondered over the purpose of this long, languorous journey. Kagami understood he was not meant for profound, philosophical thinking because it wasn't in his nature to delve into complex problems, but he tried. God, he really tried to find the point of this baseless adventure because he would be extremely pissed to accept the possibility that there was no point, that establishing his complicated relationship with different versions of Aomine was a fluke.

"Oi," Aomine snapped his fingers impatiently. "Are you listening?"

Kagami blinked out of his stupor. "What?"

As punishment, his boyfriend mercilessly flicked his forehead.

"Ow!" Kagami rubbed the area of impact to lessen the pain. "What the heck?" he groused.

"Pay attention, you idiot. I'm trying to answer your stupid question, but I can't do that if you're daydreaming."

The redhead sulked, but admittedly, Aomine was justified. "Well?" he asked.

"Hypothetically," Aomine made quotation marks as he said this, "If I was in that situation and had to see your dumb face every day…"

He paused for dramatic effect with the intention to dangle the tension in the air. After what seemed like ages, he smiled big and wide and said, "I would tell you that I love you every chance I get."

At first, there was an uncomfortable silence. Next, Kagami flicked Aomine's wide forehead.

"Ouch!" he yelped as he jumped away from Kagami's perimeter and palmed the reddening spot forming between his eyebrows.

However, Kagami was redder as more color inked his cheeks.

"You…" Kagami vibrated with unbridled embarrassment. "You're so embarrassing!" he exclaimed.

Aomine laughed, shielding his face as Kagami inflicted a barrage of punches, but they were light and harmless. They were more akin to taps than punches, really.

"And what about you?" he asked.

"Hah?!"

Aomine donned a wistful smile. "What would you do if you had to relive the same day over and over again?"

* * *

After their extensive workout together, the two basketball idiots would argue over the location of dinner. Today they both agreed Maji Burger was the best choice, and they made a spectacle of themselves as they scarfed down way more burgers than the average customer. With their hunger satiated, they chatted over the course of their day even though Kagami can probably recite Aomine's day by memory at this point.

However, today there was one measly difference. Well, to Aomine, it was a trivial matter, but to Kagami, on the other hand, it was a critical divergence.

"So I went back to my locker because I forgot my magazines," Aomine said with more enthusiasm than usual. "When I opened it, guess what I found!"

"What?" Kagami asked with bemused interest.

If they were following a script, then Aomine would have lifted his backpack over their table and dumped all of its contents to reveal a limited edition basketball magazine with the hottest design of Air Jordan shoes on the cover page. In place of that, the blue-haired man meekly unzipped the smallest pocket, rummaged through the mess in his bag, and pulled out a cute, light pink letter with hearts and flowers drawn on the side. The card was tucked between his fingers, and once again, Kagami's heart ached as he noticed Aomine's pleased smile.

Today they are friends. Today Kagami doesn't have the right to be jealous.

"That's great," Kagami congratulated him with an oddly high-pitched voice. He momentarily cleared his throat and continued, "What's her name?"

"I forgot. I didn't really care to remember her name."

Kagami frowned in disapproval. Even though he was a tad bitter over the news, the man should have at least put in some effort to remember the girl's name. He was about to give him his two cents until Aomine had beat him to the punch.

"We're not going out," he clarified. "I rejected her."

Well, that remark had just put Kagami into a stupor.

His word filter was turned off as he blurted out, "Were her boobs small?"

He may have been presumptuous to presume that the girl was quite a looker with a cute note like that, but if she was, then there was absolutely no good reason to turn her down. Aomine was not a shallow, superficial man, but if the girl was drop-dead gorgeous with a nice rack, then Aomine would have dated her at a drop of a hat.

Therefore, Kagami was seventy-five percent sure that girl did not have enough cleavage for the power forward to accept her.

"No, her boobs looked great."

"Then what's wrong with her?" Kagami asked, puzzled.

He wasn't calling Aomine a simpleton, but if this girl was dolled up and wore skimpy clothing with bedroom eyes, Aomine would have fallen head over heels for her. At the very least, he would have given her a chance.

"I don't know," Aomine replied. "She doesn't seem right for me."

He leaned his elbow against the table and placed his head on his hand. His eyes glimmered under the harsh, incandescent light of the restaurant as he glanced Kagami's way. The redhead held his breath, hypnotized, as if the man himself casted a spell on him. For a short period, they were locked in place, gazing into each other's eyes.

"I don't know," he repeated again with a whisper. "I feel like I'm waiting for something else."

As they parted with stunted goodbyes, Kagami finally noticed that his heart was still hammering in his chest.

* * *

"Tell me the words, Taiga," he growled, animalistic and primal, "Or I'll stop right here and now."

Kagami whined as he felt Aomine's blunt nails clawing his hips as the man rode him to oblivion. He struggled against the binds around his wrists, desperately catching his own orgasm as his lover continued to envelop him in scorching heat and shallow walls. He was confined, helpless. He was a prisoner under Aomine's watchful scrutiny.

"Please," he begged.

Aomine roughly grounded his hips and squeezed him without warning. Kagami gritted his teeth and keened as stars appeared in his vision. His fingers inched to overturn Aomine into the mattress, but he was useless as Aomine straddled him and pinned him to where he was.

Kagami made a choked sound as he made another attempt. Drool seeped out of the corners of his mouth. "Please Daiki. Let me come."

His fierce lover also looked as if he was at the end of the line, his thrusts unpredictable and erratic. Then Aomine curved his lips into an evil grin, and Kagami shuddered as dread enclosed on his very being.

"Wrong."

* * *

Kagami remained in a fetal position throughout the rest of the day. His face was haggard and sunken; his eyes were puffy and red. He listlessly watched the adjacent wall as he recalled everything in vivid detail.

In this loop, Aomine didn't text him. Assuming they were enemies or plain acquaintances, Kagami decided to drop by Touou Academy to steal him away like a prince in shining armor. Momoi Satsuki was at the gym during basketball practice and was in the midst of relaying some information to her head coach. Kagami tilted his head to the side and wondered why the female manager seemed different today. He shrugged his shoulders and pushed that uncertainty to the back of his mind.

Since she was occupied, he took his time and roamed around the edges of the gym, searching for Aomine's signature blue head of hair among the other aspiring members of the basketball team. After he double-checked, he shook his head in disapproval when he couldn't find the elusive blue-haired man. Most likely the idiot flaked out and escaped to the rooftops. He was about to head in that direction until Momoi crossed his path.

She looked at him as if she had seen a ghost.

"Kagamin," she said in a breathy voice and approached him cautiously.

She looked like she was walking on eggshells. Her hands hovered over his hands and grabbed them as if they were fragile like glass. Then she led him outside where onlookers and bystanders can't interrupt them, and suddenly, for the longest time, Kagami felt very afraid.

In one of her arms was a bundle of white lilies. Her attire was black and formal. Once Kagami acknowledged these two facts, he felt like he was swimming without air, like the static found on a television screen.

"He's dead," he answered to himself hollowly. The urge to throw up hit him like a bullet.

Momoi sniffled with tears and mascara streaming down her face as if his words broke a dam within her. A woman that beautiful shouldn't make a distorted face like that. A man like Kagami shouldn't be on his knees as if the world fell upon him.

Eventually, he learned that Aomine passed away last week and defended a woman against a robber, that he was fatally stabbed during the altercation and bled himself to death before the paramedics could save him. This Kagami learned from Aomine's dearest childhood friend, the woman who diligently stayed by his side forevermore. She, too, was taking this hard, but she was compassionate and kind. She soothingly rubbed his back while he gulped in large breaths.

"I know how much he meant to you," she whispered sorrowfully. "He was so excited to hear what you wanted to tell him, too."

Her lips trembled, but she continued on. "You know..." her voice cracked. "He loved you, too."

Kagami hitched his breath and felt like drowning in a sea of emotions, except there was nowhere he could resurface. The grief and anguish pounded into him, breaking his heart into a million pieces. It was as if a chunk of his heart died along with him, and at that point, Kagami couldn't take it anymore.

Afterwards, Kagami politely declined her invitation to visit him and made his trek back home. Now, here he is, wallowing in his agony and mourning as he wasted the day away in his humble abode.

Kagami blinked away the tears threatening to spill his face. The memory was still fresh in his mind. A blinding, seething flash of anger overcame him as he rolled himself out of his bed and began dismantling his minimalistic apartment.

Paper was strewn all over the floor. Shards of glass littered the tiles. Fist-shaped dents marred the walls. The damage was extensive, but there was no point. All of this wouldn't bring Aomine back. After all, the day would rewind and everything would return back to its absurd, pristine self.

Then, for the first time in a long while, Kagami openly cried.

Oh, if only he could rush back to the start.

* * *

"Heads or tails?"

Aomine flipped a coin, and once it reached the back of his hand, he slapped over it to cover its face. They were deciding who received the ball first.

Automatically, Kagami guessed, "Tails."

Aomine was being his ludicrous self as he leaned forward with one eye open and slowly slipped his hand away.

It was tails.

* * *

Aomine's body was flushed against his, pressing against him with sweat-slicked skin. He mouthed the nape of his neck and nipped at all of his sensitive spots, causing Kagami to clench the bedsheets firmer and tighter.

"Kagami," he moaned in his ear. "You feel so good."

"Aomine- ah!" Kagami muffled his moans as Aomine snapped his hips against the curve of his ass.

"Deeper," Kagami panted out. "Harder."

"Shit, Kagami," Aomine cursed as he rocked his hips. "So fucking hot," he said and pressed an insistent kiss between the redhead's shoulder blades. "Gonna fill you up with my hot cum."

"Ah- right there!" Kagami cried out and clenched as Aomine reached his prostrate.

"I love you so damn much," Aomine said as he pounded Kagami deeper into the mattress.

A single tear trickled down Kagami's cheek. "I love you, too," he returned before he reached his climax.

* * *

At the start, he was a simple observer, a person watching from the sidelines at a distance and figuring out how everything would play out.

And he wondered when he became the actor of the story, the person who was shoved into this intricate game of misfits and mismatches without his permission. He was a puppet on a string, and life was the puppeteer, leading him astray or closer to the variant versions of Aomine with a flick of the wrist.

When Kagami closed his eyes and tried to conjure up an image of his Aomine, the correct one, the one who was the beginning and the end, he couldn't. His image blended and mixed with the other parts of Aomine he encountered in his journey, and the idea that he would never return to his Aomine seemed closer than ever.

Kagami was sick of being toyed, of being fiddled like a fool.

In his words, this was his drama, his plot, and he is the one making the rules.

Therefore, he made a decision.

One of the greatest attributes of human beings was their ability to adapt and change, and so, despite life's fickle, sadistic ways, Kagami had the choice to control at least one thing.

* * *

He woke up once more.

He texted Aomine and brushed his teeth.

He went to school with a prepared lunch and did his morning exercises.

He slept through most of his classes and aced his pop quiz.

He bid his farewell to Kuroko and hurried to the bus stop.

He reached the basketball court and saw him.

He truly saw him with reopened eyes.

"Aomine," he jogged closer to him until he was standing next to him as his equal.

"Hey Bakagami," Aomine greeted him with a smile.

He was called many things by this blue-haired man. Friend. Enemy. Bastard. Babe. Idiot. Lover.

Kagami.

Taiga.

Kagami gripped Aomine's shoulders. "I have something to say to you."

Aomine cocked his head to the side. "What?" he asked.

Kagami smiled with utter adoration and affection. "I love you," he said and embraced him.

* * *

Kagami is not sure if this is the key. He is not sure if he will ever return. However, he loved Aomine through thick and thin. And this was his answer.

* * *

 **A/N:** **But real talk though, he did eventually end the time loop, and once he saw Aomine, he jump-started that relationship so hard, Aomine was dizzy and in for a loop. lol. Also he was confused about why Kagami was so experienced in kissing and sex. It was fun writing this and I hope you enjoyed reading this too.**


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